IPSWICH, Mass. — January 5, 2017 —EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) has awarded five librarians $1,500 scholarships to attend the 2017 ALA Midwinter Meeting, January 20-24 in Atlanta. The scholarships are co-sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA). The scholarship recipients will be honored by EBSCO and ALA representatives during the conference at a breakfast on Sunday, January 22.

The EBSCO ALA Midwinter Scholarship defrays the cost of attending the conference and allows the librarians to benefit from the professional development and networking opportunities available at the conference. As part of the application process, librarians were asked to write an essay on the topic of “What will be the next game changer(s) for your library? How will your attendance at ALA Midwinter 2017 help you to contribute to the future of your library and libraries overall?

The scholarship winners are:
• Liya Deng, Social Sciences Librarian, Assistant Professor, Eastern Washington University Libraries, Cheney, Washington
• Kerry Townsend, Library Media Coordinator, Columbia Public Schools, Columbia, Missouri.
• Mandi Goodsett, Performing Arts & Humanities Librarian, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio
• Lisa Nowlain, Youth Librarian, Nevada County Community Library, Nevada City, California
• Jennifer Bayer, Adult Reference Librarian, Larry J. Ringer Library, College Station, Texas

All of the librarians made predictions about what technologies would be game changers in the next several years. Liya Deng, a first year Social Sciences librarian at Eastern Washington University believes that “data-driven learning and assessment will be the next crucial area of focus for the EWU library because the results of such work will enable us to impact student learning and retention in more meaningful ways.”
Applicants were judged by an ALA-designated jury: jury chairman Elizabeth Nelson, Julius C. Jefferson, Jr.; Dorothy J. Owens, Pamela Jo Renfrow, and Sarah Sullivan.

EBSCO is dedicated to supporting the professional development of librarians around the world and has a long tradition of co-sponsoring scholarships to ALA conferences, providing funds for conference registration, travel, and expenses.

About ALA
The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit professional organization of more than 65,000 librarians, library trustees, and other friends of libraries dedicated to providing and improving library services and promoting the public interest in a free and open information society: www.ala.org.

About EBSCO Information Services
EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) is the leading discovery service provider for libraries worldwide with more than 11,000 discovery customers in over 100 countries. EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS) provides each institution with a comprehensive, single search box for its entire collection, offering unparalleled relevance ranking quality and extensive customization. EBSCO is also the preeminent provider of online research content for libraries, including hundreds of research databases, historical archives, point-of-care medical reference, and corporate learning tools serving millions of end users at tens of thousands of institutions. EBSCO is the leading provider of electronic journals & books for libraries, with subscription management for more than 360,000 serials, including more than 57,000 e-journals, as well as online access to more than 900,000 e-books. For more information, visit the EBSCO website at: www.ebsco.com. EBSCO Information Services is a division of EBSCO Industries Inc., a family owned company since 1944.
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For more information, please contact:
Kathleen McEvoy
Vice President of Communications
(800) 653-2726 ext. 2594
kmcevoy@ebsco.com